It was roughly two months ago that I received a midnight email from our gaming editor Ben Gilbert. The subject: "Review Code -- Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate for 3DS." The email: "Assuming you want this?" I didn't. Sure, I'd played an older Monster Hunter on the Wii a few years back, but I gave up 15 hours in, shortly after the grueling tutorials ended. I've always felt like I should be into the series, though. I'm into RPGs; I'm into grinding. I use up the precious few vacation days I have crawling through Persona Q's dungeons or leveling up familiars. So I decided to offer up 100 hours of my free time to see if I could learn to love Monster Hunter. I tried so hard to love it.

Back in the nineties, Nintendo showed the world the future, and that future was translucent plastic and circuit boards. Both the Game Boy Pocket and Game Boy Color offered see-through casing, not to mention the Game Boy Advance a few years later, and kids everywhere loved them. Now, Nintendo's treating us to a pair of new 2DS handhelds crafted in the same mold.

Nintendo's had some success with approximating the mundanity of real life in the past, but its latest attempt looks like it'll amp up the crazy rather dramatically. In Tomodachi Life you import a collection of Miis (Nintendo's avatar system) and watch as they interact with each other on an island. We know what you're thinking, but trust us, it's the opposite of boring. For example, one scene from its recent unveiling involves Nintendo's senior product marketing manager Bill Trinen professing his love for Samus Aran on a beach when a shirtless, musclebound president Reggie Fils-Aime runs down the shore to do the same. And then, CEO Satoru Iwata emerges from the water and joins in on the action. Yes, really.

Nintendo's handheld business is booming right now, and the company has the stats to prove it. In its annual overview released today, the company says it sold a record-breaking 16 million 3DS games in 2013, which translates to a 45 percent increase over last year. US consumers played a big part in Nintendo's bumper year, accounting for 11.5 million of Nintendo's 35 million 2DS and 3DS lifetime sales. Despite its precarious financial situation and a recent ruling requiring it to share some of its 3DS sales revenue, Nintendo reckons it has plenty more left in the tank: "We're not slowing down in 2014," says Scott Moffitt, Nintendo's EVP of Sales, "the best days of Nintendo 3DS are still to come."

Nintendo is fond of including games with its handhelds, and it's keeping up that habit by launching its first 2DS bundles. As of December 6th, Target will carry a red 2DS with Pokemon X pre-installed for $150; stop by Toys R Us the same day and you'll get a blue 2DS with Pokemon Y for the same price. While neither bundle is particularly special, they'll both save a cool $20 (and a few minutes of effort) over buying the separate hardware and software. We'd say that's a good deal for both gift-shopping parents and frugal Pokemon players.

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Wed, 04 Dec 2013 12:14:00 -050021|20781294http://www.engadget.com/2013/10/25/this-week-on-gdgt-surface-pro-2-nintendo-2ds/%3Futm_medium%3Dfeed%26utm_source%3DFeed_Classic%26utm_campaign%3DEngadget%26ncid%3Drss_semi
http://www.engadget.com/2013/10/25/this-week-on-gdgt-surface-pro-2-nintendo-2ds/http://www.engadget.com/2013/10/25/this-week-on-gdgt-surface-pro-2-nintendo-2ds/%3Futm_source%3DFeed_Classic%26utm_medium%3Dfeed%26utm_campaign%3DEngadget%23commentsEach week, our friends at gdgt go through the latest gadgets and score them to help you decide which ones to buy. Here are some of their most recent picks. Want more? Visit gdgt anytime to catch up on the latest, and subscribe to gdgt's newsletter to get a weekly roundup in your inbox.

Care to see a former Disney star shuck her wholesome image through the wonders of improv (and sheer tops) from the comfort of your 3DS or 2DS? Today, that questionable privilege is entirely possible, as Nintendo's made Hulu Plus available for download from the eShop, along with a one-week free trial lure for new subs. A subscription to the streaming service's $7.99/mo premium tier will let gamers enjoy the same level of access they'd get elsewhere -- which just means Hulu Plus on a wider selection of screens, not ad-free primetime content. That said, "commercial-free kids programming" does exist on the service, which is where you'll want to direct the kiddos that form the bulk of the 3DS' user base. Alternatively, you can also fire up past episodes of SNL to shatter any illusions they (and you) may have of wholesome, tweener idols. Go ahead... we're silently judging you anyway.

Many gamers are focused on the PS4 and Xbox One launches, but we'd be remiss if we didn't mention a third that just took place: the Nintendo 2DS is now available in Australia, Europe and North America. US-based shoppers can buy black/blue and black/red models for $129. As a refresher, the system is aimed at both frugal buyers and newcomers who may not miss the 3DS' hinged design and namesake 3D visual effects; it still handles 3DS and DS games. The 2DS isn't likely to please veteran players, but it may satisfy parents who want a cheap way to introduce their kids to handheld gaming.

You might say the week is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workweek, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Weekly Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past seven days -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.

Casting aside such permutations as the DSi and the DSi XL, it makes ordinal sense for the Nintendo 3DS to have followed the Nintendo DS. This is true even if the "3" was for the number of dimensions and not necessarily generations (in which case it might have been named the DS 3). But it seems a bit puzzling on the face of it to come out with a product called the 2DS after the 3DS. Changing the sub-brand immediately calls the notion of compatibility into question even if one can see why Nintendo wouldn't want to include "3D" in a product that doesn't display it. (At least it's not being called "the new 3DS.")

And that's but one of the confusing things about the 2DS, in which the strongest champion of hand-held gaming hardware has eliminated the signature feature of its latest portable console generation as well as the clamshell design with which the DS series has been identified since its debut a decade ago. The result is a makeover of the portable 3D handheld that is a bit less portable and a lot less 3D.

You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.

Nintendo caught us all by surprise when it announced its -- all too literally named -- 2DS handheld last week. But are we really surprised? For a company that found its last success with the "family" experience, and loves to create products in families of their own, it's perhaps surprising that it didn't create a more affordable, more accessible handheld sooner. Either way, it's here now, and will be reaching shelves by October 12th -- just in time to make those Christmas lists. Our list is getting pretty full already though, so we spent a little time with it to see if it could make the cut.Slideshow-79312

You might say the week is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workweek, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Weekly Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past seven days -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.

You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.

Well, this is certainly a surprise. While the other big names in gaming are rolling out their new home consoles, Nintendo's bringing a new handheld to the table. Called the 2DS, it looks like a 3DS laid flat without the hinge, and as you might surmise from the name, no three dimensional graphics. IGN reports that the 2DS will come in red and blue (with the front either being black or white, depending upon region) and will cost $129 when it arrives on October 12. For your money you get a handheld that packs dual screens, two cameras round the back, a single speaker and a 3.5mm headphone jack, plus a 4GB SD card.

The new handheld is considered to be a part of the 3DS family, and as such, it can play all 3DS and regular Nintendo DS games, and also provides access to 3DS apps like the Nintendo eShop. Nintendo is positioning the 2DS as a far more affordable option than the $169 3DS, which should make it the more palatable choice for parents with small children. Strong move, Nintendo, get 'em hooked while they're young.